Conventionally, an electric retractable seat for a vehicle is provided with a motor for unlocking the electric retractable seat that is fixed (locked) relative to the vehicle, and the seat is unlocked by means of the motor.
For example, an electric retractable seat apparatus disclosed in JP2007-062510A is provided with an unlock motor for unlocking a seat cushion that is fixed to the vehicle so as to stay in a seating position. The seat cushion is supported at the vehicle floor by means of a front leg and a rear leg. Locking devices each provided on the front leg and the rear leg engage with strikers provided to the vehicle, thereby locking the seat cushion relative to the vehicle. To unlock the seat cushion, the unlock motor is driven to disengage the locking devices from the strikers, which allows the seat cushion to move.
However, the electric retractable seat apparatus disclosed in JP2007-062510A is provided with the unlock motor, in addition to a seat back motor and a seat cushion motor for retracting the seat back and the seat cushion respectively. This requires a large accommodation space and a high cost.
A need thus exists for a lock mechanism for an electric retractable seat for a vehicle, which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.